Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk [Extra tracks] | ![Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk [Extra tracks]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419Q05XW89L._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Artist: Jeff Buckley
Label: Columbia
Category: Music
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £6.68
You Save: £6.31 (49%)
New (13) Used (9) from £3.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 4867
Format: Extra Tracks
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5099748866165
ASIN: B000009HPP
Release Date: May 11, 1998
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, despatched by a UK store
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| » | The sky is a landfill | | » | Everybody here wants you | | » | Opened once | | » | Nightmares by the sea | | » | Yard of blonde girls | | » | Witches' rave | | » | New Year's prayer | | » | Morning Theft | | » | Vancouver | | » | You and I |
Disc 2
| » | Nightmares by the sea | | » | New Year's prayer | | » | Haven't you heard | | » | I know we could be so happy baby (If we wanted to be) | | » | Murder Suicide meteor slave | | » | Back in N.Y.C | | » | Gunshot glitter | | » | Demon John | | » | Your flesh is so nice | | » | Jewel Box | | » | Satisfied mind |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Perhaps the most talented "son act" in pop music, Jeff Buckley combined the often harrowing eclecticism of estranged papa Tim Buckley with the rock acrobatics of Robert Plant. This posthumously released collection of four-track demos and sessions helmed by Tom Verlaine indicates that Buckley's astonishing full-length debut, Grace, was no fluke. The young singer-songwriter puts his falsetto to good use on an extraordinary collection of original material, from the soulful "Everybody Wants You" to the psychedelic "Murder Suicide Meteor Slave". And while his bluesy take on Porter Wagoner's "Satisfied Mind" may not be as revelatory as his earlier version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", this album offers ample proof that Buckley was among his generation's most gifted voices. --Bill Forman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
'I am a railroad track abandoned / With the sunset forgetting I ever happened' January 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jeff Buckley is frequently seen as a one-album wonder given that he issued only one full-length LP in his lifetime, but it was his tragic accidental death by drowning at 30 that curtailed the flow of more albums and not a lack of drive or talent. These unfinished sketches for his second album My Sweetheart the Drunk show what a great album it would have been, rivaling Grace's huge popularity. The versatility of style evident on his debut album is taken further here - Buckley demonstrates an astonishing musical breadth, shifting from soul funk to the dissonant sonic noise of Murder Suicide Meteor Slave, to the more middle-of-road rock numbers (on which he sometimes sounds eerily like Kurt Cobain). His vocals on these sketches are breathtaking (he featured prominently in Mojo's list of The Greatest Vocalists of All Time), especially on the pure sex soul of Everybody Here Wants You and his cover of Porter Wagoner's Satisfied Mind. The lyrics have become more erotic, e.g. Your Flesh is So Nice, and on Jewel Box where he sings "I know you're a woman by the way you burn below" (interestingly Tim Buckley also sang euphemistically of "my lady's chamber"). In a terrible sense of foreboding, there is a fair amount of water imagery, too: oceans overflow inside a loved-one (Opened Once), "I've loved so many times and I've drowned them all... Stay with me under these waves, tonight" (Nightmares by the Sea), the "poisoned river wild" of You & I, the reservoir heart of Morning Theft and the falling down to the sea on Gunshot Glitter.
Buckley would have tinkered, reshaped and even erased some of these tracks before release, so inevitably they are not all mind-blowing and some are quite patchy. It's just my subjective opinion, but I couldn't warm to Witches' Rave, Yard of Blonde Girls, Murder Suicide Meteor Slave and some of the other middle tracks of the second disc. Buckley was for me primarily a master of ballad-like songs of wounded romance and desire (even Leonard Cohen has said of Grace's Hallelujah, "I wrote the lyrics, but it is definitely a Buckley song"), so it's the more tender and falsetto-high songs which capture me. Some of the lyrics are stunning, with stellar expressions of loss ('I am a railroad track abandoned / With the sunset forgetting I ever happened', Opened Once), but some of them are underdeveloped and almost nonsensical (e.g. 'Hot, pink, nasty bubblegum / Coming down just like a big red coal'!). Yet Sketches is nevertheless well worth listening to, for Buckley's extraordinary vocal talent, his experiments with style and to hear how he might have moved on from the multi-million selling Grace. These are, sadly, the final blueprints of an immensely talented and sorely missed artist.
Standout tracks: Everybody Here Wants You, You & I, Jewel Box, Morning Theft, Opened Once, Satisfied Mind
Also recommended: David Browne's book, Dream Brother
 GIVE THIS CD SOME TIME... YOU'LL LOVE IT! December 29, 2007
I listen to this CD Every Day!!! If you are looking for another "Grace" CD, this is not it - HOWEVER, it is Buckley all the way! Disk 1 features a variety of songs that put together both a beautiful and sexy tapestry of Jeff's voice and music. This CD lifts me like no other! Disk 1 is thought provoking and transcendent - done in a very earthly Buckley Way. Disk 2 is damn right surprising and raw. I definitely had to give Disk 2 some time... And it was worth it - this music will wake you like no other. Disk 2 is unpolished and damn right sensually sexy. Give it time - if you're ready for this music - you'll love it!
The sketchier the better November 7, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Despite what most people say about the difference between the two disks, my own opinion is quite the reverse:
Disk 1 is disappointing, with average sounding rock songs, as if he was trying to give the record execs what he thought they wanted.
Disk 2, although much rougher and presumably put down on a home four-track recorder, sounds like the 'real' Jeff Buckley. The songs and arrangements are truly inspired, and are the product of a true artist at work. For example, who else (other than a die-hard prog rocker) would even attempt to cover Back in NYC by Genesis, from the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, let alone pull it off?
Disk 2 more than disk 1 sketches what the second album would have been like - probably better than Grace, as if that were possible.
Sketches indeed, but well worth it for a handful of tracks September 23, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was listening to 'Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk' the other day and have to say that I find it, on the whole, ultimately disappointing. It probably would have been a lot more fulfilling if the unreleased demos and new studio recordings made by Jeff before he died had have been condensed into one great single CD, rather than the patchy, sprawling mess of this album. There's at least two excellent tracks on it - my favourites on the album are Nightmares By The Sea and Everybody Here Wants You. There are also a handful of good, listenable songs, but some of the other tracks are, unfortunately, a little poor.
I'd recommend it to hardcore Buckley fans only and advise them that they'll have to search for the gold in this double CD collection. It does, however, score points for artistic integrity and releasing the songs as they stood rather than getting somebody in to 'finish them off'. Jeff's mother did a good job in the circumstances.
The couple of outstanding songs on this double album, plus the artistry of some of the lesser tracks are enough to earn this album a four star review - but really it's closer to three & a half.
 Necessary pilaging? November 11, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
A double album not produced by the artist but by the record company - always a touchy subject and rarely the correct thing to do. But what about this one?
It's clear which tracks got more attention. Opener on CD1 `The Sky is a Landfill' is one of the most complete-sounding, with those distinct and original melodic roller coasters that he pulls off with ease, with octave and distorted guitar parts reinforcing the mood.
Others are obviously work in progress, such as the broken down 4-track pieces where he is more susceptible to limitation. Some of the more partial tracks are on CD2 and include `Murder Suicide Meteor Slave' and `Gunshot Glitter', which are evidently strong, though have much room for evolution in their own concept. Others such as `Your Flesh Is So Nice' are simply peculiar due to just being skeletons. For example, the impression given by the said track is tongue-in-cheek Rock.
`Nightmares by the Sea' and `New Year's Prayer' are featured on both CDs, the reason being two different mixes being made. This is all very well, but there is little difference between the masters and seems to show a money-grabbing hunger within Sony.
The sudden and tragic end of this gifted individual is emphasized through this release. Hearing the sketches of tracks illustrates in a morbid way how Jeff had so much more to prove, that the big empty in each song could've been filled but stands forever never fulfilling their capabilities. His death was completely out of the blue. For many reasons, it should never have happened.
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